Short wood chain barker



All@ 4, 1953 H. w. GUETTLER 2,647,548

SHORT woon CHAIN BARKER 'Filed oct. 8, 1949 2 sheets-sheet 1 IN VEN TOR.

Aug. 4, 1953 H. w, GUETTLER SHORT woon CHAIN BARKER 2 Sheets-Sheetl 2Filed Oct. 8, 1949 Patented Aug. 4, 1953 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICESHORT WOOD CHAIN BAKKER Herbert W. Guettler, San Francisco, Calif.

Application October 8, 1949, Serial No. 120,304

7 Claims. (Cl. 14d- 208) My invention is concerned with a device forremoving the bark from relatively short pulp wood logs or the like.

More particularly my invention is directed to a novel type of barkingmachine in which the barking process is largely accomplished by theattritional action between the logs themselves.

The presently employed method of barking short logs employs a system offeeding logs into a large open ended cylindrical drum where they aretumbled against the interior of the drum by revolving action thereof.The drum is normally lled about half way and as the drum revolves thelogs cascade down the surface of the wood piled therein. Under thissystem the majority of the logs in the Wood pile fail to move relativeto one another, only the top layer of logs moving as a rule. Such lamethod is slow, expensive and requires large cumbersome machinery.

Another method in present use in the industry is one in which the logsare corded parallel to one another in a stationary vat; cams, wheels orchains in the bottom of the vat causing the logs to move one against theother.

Briefly my invention accomplishes the bark removal process through theuse of a large stationary vat having a specially formed bottom and .aplurality of chain-s moving thereacross for tearing the bottom layer oflogs piled in the vat away from one another to cause a constantturbulation effect. Such a churning action causes most of the logs tomove relative to one another so that the bark is speedily removed by theattrtional or frictional action between the moving logs.

The main object of my invention is to provide a new and improved logbarking machine in which the bark removal process is accomplished byattritional action between the logs.

Another object of my invention is to provide a new and cheaper barkremoval machine in which the logs are piled hit and miss with no fixedpattern, to increase the bark removing attritional action of the logs.

Still another object of my invention is to provide a new and improvedbark removing apparatus which is adapted to yaccomplish continuous andquick bark removal.

These and other objects will appear from time to time as the followingspecification and description proceed. In order to acquaint thosefamiliar with this art with the mode of constructing and utilizing myinvention, I shall describe a certain preferred embodiment thereof withreference to the accompanying drawings wherein:

Figure 1 is a view partly in section and partly in side elevation of amachine embodying my invention;

Figure 2 is a front View of the machine shown in Figure l, with the logmoving chains removed;

Figure 3 is an enlarged partial top plan view of the bottom of the vatshowing the arrangement of the bark removal openings in the V- shapedribs running therealong;

Figure 4 is a fragmentary sectional View, on an enlarged scale, takensubstantially on line 4-5 of Figure l and Figurek 5 is a fragmentaryside view on an enlarged scale, of one of the log agitating chains.

Referring now to Figures 1 and 2 of the drawings, the barking machine I0shown therein comprises a feed conveyor II which dumps logs I2 into abarking vat I3. The vat I3 is supported by .a suitable upright framestructure I4 and has a guide chain assembly I5 along an inclined bottomIt thereof and means for agitating the logs and guiding them upwardly toa discharge apron Il from whence they sli-de downwardly to a dischargeconveyor I8, to be carried away from the barking machine. The removedbark may be received in a hopper I9 positioned below the vat I3 and iscarried away by a bark conveyor 20, as will appear more fully later.

With particular reference to Figure 2 of the drawings the feedingconveyor II shown therein is comprised generally of a link chain 25threaded over suitable sprockets 26 mounted on shafts 21 which in turnare carried by suitable side platev framing members 28 secured at oneend to the upright frame I4 of the machine. The chain 25 may havesuitable engaging lugs 29 secured thereto at spaced intervals forengaging logs I2 to move them upwardly into the vat of the machine.V-'shaped guide chute 3l] having side members 3l may be mounted on theside plate members 28 to maintain the logs in contact with the conveyorchain 25.

The barking vat I3 as shown in Figures 1 and 2 comprises generallyinfeed and outfeed side plates 34 and 34 of materially different heightsand operatively connected with a long upright end plate 35 positioned atthe forward end of the machine and with a shorter but higher back endplate 36 positioned at the rear of the machine. The bottom I6 extendsbetween and joins the two end plates 35 and 35, and slopes upwardly fromfront to back as seen clearly in Figure l. In construction the endplates are formed as a continuf ous part of the bottom plate structureto form an enclosed vat construction. The vat itself with the severalplates and bottom referred to above is suitably supported by the uprightframing I4 which comprises generally a series of four upright beams 38cross connected at the forward and back sides of the machine by suitablecross beams 39 and at the sides of the machine by I beams 49, all joinedtogether to form a rigid framing.

The bottom construction is composed, as shown herein infFigure' 3, vof aplurality of V-plates 4l having their apeXes 42 extended upwardly andtheir lower edges secured to a plurality of bed plates 43 which arerelatively narrow. The bed plates 43 are suitably separated leavingchanneled openings 44 below which chain guides 45 may be mounted. TheV-plates 4l are provided with a plurality of bark removal openings 45positioned at various alternating positions along the entire bottomconstruction.

The chain guides lll are herein shown as comprising aA pairof channelbeam members 4l mounted below the'bediplates-in separated relation withone another and having L-shaped angle irons dlsecured'thereto, forpurposes of re'ceiving'the guide chain-assembly i5 thereon for rollingmovement, as will appear presently. AQ chain guide return assembly 49 ismounted belowfandiseoured to the chain guide l5 and is composed oi`similar channel and L shaped angle' irons as clearly appears inFigure 4of the drawings. One such set or chain guides d5. and it isimountedinregistering relation below each of the openings or separations iscreated by the spaced-be'd'plates43. in the bottom of the vat, forireceiving thereinthe-guide chain assembly E5.

'I'.heguidey chain. assembly i5 is comprised of aplurality. offindividual link type chains 52 threaded; over driving sprockets 53mounted atthea-upperl back .side ofthe machine on the framingllgby meansofl a shaftv 54 housed in bearing supports? 55 for rotational movementtherein. Suitablev rotative means, such as a motor (not shown); maybeemployed to drivethe drive sprockets 53. to-cause/movement of theguide chainsv 5E. Idler. sprockets-t6 may be mounted at the' lower endof the guide chain assembly near the lower frontend of the machine. lTheidlerfsprockets maybe rotatably mounted on suitable shafts El carriedbybearing support members 58y and secured to suitable standards 58similar to* the drive sprocket assembly described above. As-'hereinshown Figure 2, three such linkchains 52 are utilised in the bottom or"the vat forr moving the logs upwardly along thevats bottom, as willappear later herein under the use andoperational description. It isyobvious that a greater orlesser .number of such guide .chains maybeutilized inthe chain assembly i5, depending on the;size ofvatstructure used. rThe guide chains .52--niesh with therdriving andidler sprock-4 ets andfiit into the separations 44, as explained above,.and vmay comprise, as shown herein, a link construction having a seriesof triangular shaped lugs 60- in which the iront face ESI.- thereof isformed ata relieving angle,V so rthat when .a lug comesout of the woodpile, logs i2 will not be carried.. upwardly out of the vat. pairs.oflinks 62 are spaced at oneend by a sleeve 64,. andare connected. tospaced arms ill' on each lugitby means of .a pivot pin (i3 passingthrough thesleeve and the spaced links and arms, the pin. 63.. havingguide rollers 65 mounted at its outer ends, as is shown in Figure fi,and the rollers {i5-being located outside of the spaced arms 5l.The.intermediate-linksmay be interconnected by additional :pivot pins ttsimilar to pins t3 to com- Intermediate.

plete the link assembly of the chain 52. il/hen the guide chains 52 aremoved along the bottom i6 of the vat with the lugs fit proj ect-ingupwardly through the openings lll between the bed plate 43, the logswill be carried upwardly along the bottom to a position opposite asuitable discharge apron il. To aid in pushing the logs up theinclinedbottom structure, the chain lugs Sli may be provided optionallywith a pair of scraper blades 69 projecting laterally therefrom andpositioned at the lower end or the relieved face El thereof in aposition so that their lower edges contact the upper surfaces of the bedplates 43 to insurea .scraping action thereacros's.

The discharge apron il is herein shown in Figure 1 as an angularlydisposed metal plate extending laterally from one lower side platemeinber'il of the vat ill, at a point diagonally opposite the -leedconveyor i i, and adapted to 'eceivethe logs, conveyed upwardly by thelink ChainsbZ, forsliding'inoveinent therealongin a downward directionto be loaded onto a conventional belt type discharge conveyor iS. A sideboard member. l@ may be positioned angularly along the discharge.conveyor lil opposite the lowerfend ofthe apron El to prevent the logsfrom spilling ofi of the conveyor.

The'discharge conveyor i3, as herein shown, isa conventional belt typeconveyor comprising a continuousr'lexible belt i2 mounted over a seriesof drums rotatably supported on suitable shafts '14 carried by bearingmembers l5 which are secured to upright standards "it mounted on ananguiar supporting frame construction llextending laterally from theside platell of the vat, and positioned below the discharge apron il'.Other supporting means (not shown) may be employed to support thedischarge conveyor at various points removerk from the machine.

Removal of the bark from the bottoni interior of the vat is permitted bythe slots or openings 41E-formed in the y`\l-plates il of the vatbottom. As the bark is removed by the attritional action of the. manylogs with one another it falls downwardly through the openings lli to bereceived by acone shaped hopper i9 having side members 8! disposedangularly downward in conical or pyramidal relation. The top and bottomof the hopper I9 rof course areopen to allow free passage of the fallingbark tothe bark conve-yor 20.

The .bark conveyor is herein shown as a conventional belt conveyor,similar to the discharge conveyor i8, and has a plurality of drums .8!rotatably supported on shafts 82`carried by bearing members 83. whichare supported by suitable standards 84. A hanger construction 85supports the bark conveyor below the hopper i9 and may comprise, asshown herein, .side members 3E and. a supporting bottom plate 3l allpreferably of metal suitably secured together, as by welding, to formarigid structure.

Use and operation In utilizing the machine such as I have describedabove, the logs, preferably siX feet in length or under, are brought tothe barking vat by thefeed conveyor and dumped hit or miss into the vatwhere they are engaged by the guide chain lugs projecting upwardly fromthe bottom of the vat. The guide chains are moved constantly upwardlyalong the inclinedsurface o the bottom of thevatby means of the drivesprockets andreturn outside of the vat bottomto roll around theidlersprockets positioned at the front of the machine. Such movement of theguide chains causes the bottom layer of the logs dumped into the vat tobe torn away from the pile thus causing a turbulation and tumblingmovement of the logs in the pile which brings about attritional barkingaction therebetween. It should be noted that the vat bottom comprises aplurality of V-shaped plates between which the guide chains and theprojecting lugs move. Such a V-shape bottom construction eliminates deadspots between the chains and causes the logs to roll down the slopingsides of the V-shaped plates to be engaged by the lugs on the guidechains whereby they may be conveyed upwardly along the sloping bottom ofthe vat. Due to the insured movement of the logs relative to oneanother, under my system of barking, the bark is removed speedily andthe logs come out of the top of the vat cleaned and ready to be dumpedover the lower side plate 34 onto the apron from whence they rolldownwardly to be engaged by the discharge conveyor and carried. awayfrom the machine. It should be noted that the forward face 6i of eachtriangular lug 60 is relieved or disposed angularly inward so that asthe chain moves out of the vats interior and over the driving sprockets,the logs are not carried out of the vat but are allowed to slide off ofthe engaging lugs and back into the pile. The bark removed from the logswithin the vat falls through the openings it into the bark receivinghopper I9, and then moves downwardly onto the bark conveyor whichcarries it away from the machine. If any of the logs are not properlybarked they may be picked olf of the discharge conveyor by inspectorsand placed on a return conveyor, not shown, to be loaded again on thefeeding chain conveyor l l, and the barking process, repeated.

Thus, it may be seen that I have provided a new and useful type of shortwood barking machine in which the bark is readily removed by theturbulation and erratic movement of the logs causing attritional removalof the bark. Also, my machine is of a cheaper construction thanpresently employed in the field and has been found to be a successfuland rapid bark remover.

While I have herein shown and described one form in which my inventionmay be employed, it will be readily understood that substitution of'equivalents, modifications and various changes may be employed withoutdeparting from the spirit and scope hereof, and, therefore, I do notwish to be limited to the specic embodiment displayed herein, except asmay appear in the following appended claims.

I claim:

1. In a wood barking device for removing bark from pulp wood logs or thelike by attritional movement of the logs against one another, astationary barking vat having parallel, spaced apart end and side walls,an upwardly sloping bottom and an open top, log feeding means fordropping logs into said vat and over the lower end of said inclinedbottom thereof, a plurality of continuous looped chains mounted inparallel spaced relation in channeled openings in said vats bottom, saidchains entering said vat through the bottom thereof adjacent the foot ofits slope; driving means for causing said chains to move upwardly alongthe slope of said bottom and thence vertically upward over one of theend walls, a plurality of triangular cross sectioned ribs positioned inparallel spaced relation and constituting said sloping vat bottombetween said chains and channeled openings, and said triangular ribshaving their apexual top edges projecting upwardly into said vatsinterior whereby said logs piled in said vat will be guided down thesloping sides thereof and onto said log engaging chains to be carried tothe upper end of said sloping bottom for their eventual discharge fromsaid vat over one of said side walls thereof.

2. In a wood barking device for removing bark from pulp wood logs or thelike by attrtional movement of the logs against one another, astationary barking vat having an upwardly sloping bottom, two end wallsand first and second side walls of which said rst side wall is ofgreater height than said second side wall, log feeding means above thelower end of said sloping bottom for maintaining said vat substantiallyfull of logs, a plurality of continuous looped chains mounted inparallel spaced relation in channeled openings in said vats bottom, aplurality of upwardly projecting lugs mounted on said chains, drivingmeans for causing said chains and said lugs to move upwardly along theslope of said bottom and one of said end walls, an apron mounted alongsaid second side wall of said vat, extending outwardly and downwardlyfrom an upper edge thereof, over which said logs will slide after theyhave been carried upwardly along said bottoms incline and said one endwall by said chains and lugs and brought opposite the upper edge of saidapron, with said movement of said logs in contact With said lugs andsaid chains causing abrasive relative movement of said logs piled insaid vat whereby said bark is removed therefrom.

3. In a log barkena vat substantially rectangular in plan having twoparallel spaced side walls, one of which is of materially greater heightthan the other, and having a bottom wall inclined upwardly from one endwall and merging into the opposite end wall, a plurality of log engaginglugs projecting above said bot-l tom wall and traveling upwardlytherealong and along said opposite end wall, means for delivering logsto said vat over said one higher side wall adjacent said one end wallthereof, and means for discharging logs from the vat over said otherside wall and adjacent said other end wall.

4. In a log barker for removing bark from pulp wood logs or the like byattritional movement of the logs against one another, a stationarybarking vat comprising opposite side and end walls, and a bottom wallextending between the side walls and sloping upwardly from one end walltoward, and merging into, said other end wall, one of said side wallsbeing of materially greater height than said other side wall; logfeeding means for discharging logs into said vat in hit or miss relationover said one higher side wall adjacent said one end wall, a pluralityof parallel spaced log propelling and agitating chains traveling oversaid bottom wall toward and upwardly along said other end wall, and adischarge apron adjacent said other end wall, and sloping outwardly anddownwardly from Y said other lower side wall, said vat and chainsco-operating to turbulently agitate said logs and discharge them in acleaned condition over said apron.

5. In a log barker, a stationary vat, substantially rectangular in plan,having a bottom wall inclined upwardly from one end wall and merginginto a second oppositel end wall, and having a pair of spaced andopposed side walls interconnecting said two end walls, one of said sidewalls being of materially greater height than 'gf'. thefot-her; meansfor.: delivering :logs :toxsaid vat over'saidhigher sidef'wallandadjacent saidy one end' wall, andaplurality of logengaging` lugs:entering said vat .at the foot of said'k inclined bottom thereof` andprojecting above said bottom wall; said lugs traveling inparallel pathsupwardly along the slope of said'bottom wall romsaid `one end Wall tosaid second end wall andi thence vertically upwardly along the latterendlwall, the leading edges of said lugs being so. disposed as to.incline downwardlyv and in- Wardly` of `saidlvat in the vertical 'travelthereof alongisaidsecond end wall; said lugs servingrto constantlyagitatesaid logs in said vat to cause attritional removal of theblarkrtherefrom and to, move logs lyingadjacent' said bottom wallfromsaid one end wall toward andfupwardly along:` said second end wallwith said-logs dis-v engaging from saidlugs and falling away from saidsecond end wall back into saidvat during said upward travel thereof dueto said downward incline of said lugs, barked logs being discharged.from the top of the pile of logs withinlsaid vat over said lower sidewall adjacent saidlsecond end wall.

6. Ina log barker, a stationary open top vat comprising side and endwalls and a bottom wall extending from one end wall at an upwardinclination toward and merging into the other and opposite end wall, andlog propelling and agitating chain means entering said vat through thebottom thereof and traveling along said bottom wall toward and upwardalong said other end wall,` said chain'means having upwardly projectingsubstantially triangular lugs effective forengaging logs and moving themalong said bottom and said'other endwall and directing them from thelatter wall back into --said Vat, one'of said side wallsv being ofmaterially less height than the other side wall and said other g endwall adjacentthelatter for discharge of barked logs over said one side.

7. In alog barker, a stationary open top Vat comprising side and endwalls and a bottom wall extending from one end wall at an upwardinclination toward and merging into the other and opposite end wall, andlog propelling and agitating chain means entering said vat through thebottom thereof and traveling along said bottom wall toward and upwardalong said other end wall, said chain means having upwardly projectingsubstantially triangular lugs effective for engaging logs and movingthem along said bottom and said other end walland directing them fromthe latter wall backinto said vat, one of said side walls being ofmaterially less height than said other end wall adjacent the latter fordischarge of barked logs over said one side wall.

HERBERT W. GUET'ILER.

References Cited in the le of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS NumberName Date 1,148,136 Alfsen July 27, 1915 1,281,155 Guettler Oct. 8, 19181,319,935 Thorne Oct. 28, 1919 1,463,887 Guettler Aug. 7, 1923 1,932,250Paulson Oct. 24, 1933 2,137,451 Hillbom Nov. 22, 1938 FGREIGN PATENTSNumber Country Date 43,646 Sweden 1918 60,713 Norway Apr. 11, 193987,449 Sweden 1936 93,506 Sweden 1938 121,642 Sweden May 11, 1948

